


To See Their Smiles Again

by InterstellarRenegade



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Post-Volume 3 (RWBY), evil!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-11 23:07:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7911121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarRenegade/pseuds/InterstellarRenegade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Seems like you’ve gotten a little beat up, there, sweetie.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreenElf322](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenElf322/gifts).



Yang woke up immediately wishing she hadn’t. She hadn’t even opened her eyes yet, but she didn’t need to in order to feel the immense pain that seemed to replace all sensible thoughts in her mind. It was all pain, pooling in her lower right arm, setting a wildfire that connected her temples by flaming arrow shot right through her brain.

She tried to work past it. Pain was something she was familiar with, had been ever since she was little and play fought with Ruby (who had a terrifyingly strong grasp as a toddler). Point being, Yang knew how to work around pain, ignore it until she could get it taken care of, after she had solved whatever problem lay in her path. But what was the problem this time? She couldn’t seem to remember.

Feeling past the strong burning in her skull and the constant sharp waves of pain coming from her arm, Yang tried to notice other things without opening her eyes. She was sitting in a chair made out of rough, hard wood that scratched uncomfortably against all the places her skin was bared to it. She felt the coolness of metal in half circles against her biceps, ankles, and her left wrist. Curious as to why she felt nothing around her right wrist, Yang tried to pick her right arm up. Her body responded quickly, treating her to gut-wrenching pain spreading from just above her elbow all the way down to the rest of her arm. She bit back a groan as her head tilted back into open air, the chair she was seated in not tall enough to rest her head on. She opened her eyes.

Yang had half expected some epiphany to jump out at her when she cracked her eyes open, but no such thing happened. She could barely even see, the room she was in unlit. She dragged her head back upright and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Once she could see – more or less – Yang strained to drink in her surroundings. She looked down at herself first, closest to her and therefore easiest to see in the darkness. She seemed to be covered in some dark, sticky liquid…blood? Her face twisted in confusion as she stared down at her blood-spattered legs, the fabric of her shorts stained and crusty from dried blood. She was really wishing at that moment that she could remember where it was from.

Yang dragged her gaze next to her right arm, and reeled at what she saw. Usually she wasn’t a squeamish person, having dealt with many broken bones and twisted appendages in her lifetime, but this was too much. She coughed and hacked, having to turn away from the mangled, bloody thing that was in place of her right arm. She couldn’t even recognize it anymore. But she had to turn back, taking the sight in with disgust on her face and watery eyes, spotting the tightly tied fabric above her elbow that had most likely kept her from bleeding out.

Something stirred nearby, and Yang froze as she listened to the shifting of fabric on her right. She turned her head, able to distinguish a shock of blue hair in the darkness. It was matted with blood, but Yang only knew one person with such colored hair.

“Neptune,” Yang hissed, not knowing why she felt the need to speak quietly. Her voice came out unexpectedly hoarse. “Neptune, wake up, dumbass.”

Neptune shifted, his head still hanging towards Yang in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. He was cuffed to a chair just as she was, but he seemed to be in much better physical condition, besides that fact that he wouldn’t wake up. Yang tried to scoot her chair closer, a string of profanities escaping her mouth as the movement jolted her arm.

A heavy metal door that Yang hadn’t noticed squealed open, pouring yellow light into the room. “One of them is awake.”

The monotone voice was all Yang needed for memories of the previous hours to come rushing back to her. The Grimm invasion in the middle of the tournament, being separated from her team, finding Blake and seeing her hurt by him, the voice echoing from the doorway. Her blood boiled and she strained against the bonds that held her to the chair.

“Now, now, don’t get so worked up.”

This was another voice, a woman’s that Yang didn’t recognize. It was smooth, spilling over Yang’s head like warm honey. She could feel it weaving into her hair, dripping down her face and into her ears, and Yang actually stuck her tongue out to try to catch some of the imaginary construct in her mouth, sure it would taste as sweet as it sounded.

The woman chuckled, and Yang only now noticed that she was standing in front of her. “Young minds. So malleable.”

Yang jerked away, realizing how transfixed she had just been. All her aches returned to her as she looked up at the dark-robed woman in front of her. Her skin was as white as a sheet of paper, her hair the same color. Veins of deep crimson stretched up from her neck onto her cheeks, and her eyes were red irises nearly swallowed up by the blackness surrounding them. She was frightening to look at, but Yang just thought of how her hairstyle looked like spiders’ legs poking out of her head and managed a scoff.

“Who the hell are you?” Yang spat.

The woman actually threw her head back when she laughed this time, smooth as silk. She turned to face the red-haired sentry at the door. “Adam, you didn’t tell me that this was the fiery one.”

“I thought it was a given.”

The woman laughed some more before turning to fix Yang with a clever stare. “Seems like you’ve gotten a little beat up, there, sweetie.”

Yang watched with horror as the woman poked a single finger into Yang’s ruined right arm, blood squelching around the digit. Yang may not have been able to feel much on that side, but she could feel that. Her stomach heaved and she doubled over as much as her restraints would allow, coughing up nothing but spit. The woman laughed again and removed her finger, wiping away the blood it had collected onto Yang’s cheek.

“I think she’s in need of a replacement for that poor arm of hers,” the woman said, feigning sympathy. “First though, we’ll need to remove this one. Adam, if you would?”

Yang heard the familiar sound of a familiar sword being unsheathed, and she jerked up as Adam approached. Her energy was sapped, but she still struggled against the metal clamps around her, feeling the sharp edge of the bastard’s sword lining up above her elbow.

“If you do that, you’ll regret it,” Yang threatened, but it was weak. She had nothing to put behind her words that would stop her attacker from doing what he thought needed to be done.

The woman cackled again before Adam brought his sword away from Yang’s arm, swinging it back in one precise, clinical movement. Yang instantly felt a weight removed and pain spreading up her arm and into her chest like needles swimming through her blood stream. She bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood, determined not to scream but failing miserably as hoarse shouts fell from her mouth while she squirmed in her chair. It was too much for her to stay conscious, not after all she’d been through, and he head lolled back on her shoulders.

“Oh, yes, she’ll do perfectly,” she heard the woman murmur with fascination from somewhere distant. “They’ll both do perfectly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lots of stuff here will probably change especially the title oops
> 
> anyway inspiration from GreenElf322, my bff, who will probably make me update this regularly so that's a thing
> 
> hope you enjoy, it's early in the morning and I have classes to sleep for
> 
> ~✧✧


	2. Chapter 2

Blake stumbled toward the dim gathering of orange light amongst the ruined fairground, remnants of the festival turned disastrous. Tents were collapsed, their once bright colors seeming to have been leeched out of them, the edges of some charred and still smoldering. The whole area smelled putrid, and Blake tried not to look too close at any of the collapsed displays lest she glimpse the shards of some unfortunate person trapped underneath, their life snuffed out in mere seconds like so many others. The Faunus clutched her hand tighter around her side, shuffling forward with labored breaths.

She wasn’t quite sure how she’d made it this far, honestly. After getting stabbed by Adam, watching him take Yang away with hazy eyes and weak limbs, there had been the Grimm still roaming the city, the school, everywhere. Blake was in no condition to fight, let alone move, so she’d had to settle for ripping shreds of her shirt to bind her wound and waiting huddled in a corner as she slowly bled to death. There had been times when she’d wondered if she should just step out of hiding and go down guns blazing, as she would’ve much preferred that to this painful sapping of her energy as she slowly ceased to exist. But it was Yang, always Yang, who kept her going. She had to find her, get to her, take back what was hers before Adam did something irreversible.

It had been a surprise but her saving grace when Blake saw pure white light filtering through the window next to her. She heard a distant, other-worldly screech and the Grimm sniffing around her hiding place suddenly responded, cowering and bolting away from the light with their heads tucked low. Blake painfully shuffled around to get a look at what was causing the light through the window, barely catching a glimpse of it as it faded from the top of Beacon Tower.

With the Grimm on the run, Blake knew this could be her only chance to get to safety. If that light was averting the Grimm, she thought it was the safest thing she could head for, which led her to where she was now, twenty minutes later. It shouldn’t have taken her this long, and she wasn’t even near the tower, but with blood soaking through her makeshift bandage at an alarming rate, she knew she wouldn’t make it any farther. Even the warm light in front of her, flickering as figures moved in front of it, seemed too far away, and she started to stumble…

Yang. She shook her head violently, opening her eyes again to glare at her target. She couldn’t stop now. She had a mission to complete. So she stumbled forward the few extra yards, repeating Yang’s name in her head like a mantra until the blonde’s face was all she saw, and she guessed she had started mumbling to herself.

“Miss Belladonna?”

Blake snapped out of her trance, taking in her surroundings as she leaned heavily against one of the multiple wooden posts holding up what looked like a hastily-built shelter, made out of materials from the crumbling festival displays. Professor Goodwitch stared down at Blake, her gaze still stern even though her general “together” appearance had crumbled. Her usually pristine and perfect blonde hair was falling out of its tie, matted with dirt and possibly blood. Probably blood, Blake reasoned, and she saw the darkened red patches on her professor’s clothes. The woman pushed her glasses up and Blake noticed that one of the lenses was cracked. Blake wondered why she hadn’t fixed them yet. Maybe she had been too busy setting up this little shelter.

“Miss Belladonna,” Professor Goodwitch repeated, her voice taking on a stronger tone. “Miss Xiao Long is not here. We must get you patched up at once.”

Blake bowed her head in something like shame, but let herself be guided to another end of the tent serving as an infirmary. Professor Goodwitch’s tone may have been harsh, but her touch on Blake’s shoulders was light and gentle, and Blake could almost feel the concern the professor held seeping into her through her fingers. Blake looked around her, many of her classmates splayed out on the ground, some sitting, some laying with their eyes closed, but everyone had injuries. She did her best not to disturb any of them as she blindly followed her teacher.

Teachers Blake didn’t know were hurriedly bandaging students and civilians alike, and Professor Goodwitch left her in their care to go back to where she had been supposedly standing watch. Blake decided after a moment it looked more like she was waiting on someone specifically. Her attention was brought back to herself when small hands touched her arm.

“Blake? Will you let me help you?”

Blake blinked down at Velvet, who was gently prying her hand away from the injury on her stomach. Blake complied immediately, seeing the bandages Velvet held under her arm and the blood that stained the front of her shirt. Her hands were cold, like she’d just washed them. Blake winced as Velvet peeled off her barely-helpful bandaging job, letting the soaked fabric drop quickly to the ground. Velvet seemed to panic slightly when Blake’s blood started flowing freely again, hurriedly pressing think bandages over it and beginning to wrap them lengthwise around Blake’s waist.

“Velvet…” Blake spoke finally, leaning heavily on the smaller girl’s shoulders. “Have you seen Sun?”

Velvet didn’t look up from where she was working, and didn’t seem to mind as Blake put more weight on her. “He’s around here somewhere. He and the rest of his team are trying to find Neptune. He went missing during all the fighting, but Sun was saying something about him being kidnapped…” Velvet trailed off, shaking her head and tying off Blake’s bandages. “CoCo said someone tried to grab her at one point too…”

Blake poked gingerly at her now covered wound. “Yang was taken.”

Velvet jumped at Blake’s outright attitude, taking a step back so she could look up into the younger girl’s face. “What? By whom?”

Blake clenched her fists but started wobbling on her feet, Velvet having to lay hands on her shoulders to help her stay upright. “It was…someone that I used to know,” Blake huffed. “He’s part of the White Fang. He’s always had an obsession with…revenge, I suppose.”

Velvet shuddered, her tall rabbit ears lowering to almost hang limply at the sides of her face. “D-Do you think she’ll be okay?”

Just the thought of Yang being anything other than “okay” lit a fire in Blake’s stomach, and she stood with new vigor. “I’m going to find her. Where’s Sun?”

Velvet perked her ears up again, eager to help. “I can hear him,” she said, turning Blake around and pointing. “He’s just outside the tent, yelling for Neptune. You’ll be able to find him.”

Blake thanked Velvet and then set off on more unsteady feet than she let on. She kept her gaze forward, only allowing short glances to her feet to make sure she wouldn’t step on anyone. She didn’t want to linger too long, afraid she would see someone she knew lifeless in the grass. She still hadn’t seen Weiss or Ruby yet.

Sun’s voice became clear once Blake reached the edge of the tent, and she slipped out to see him trying to climb on top of a pile of crumbling planks of wood and burnt tapestry. Blake looked to her left and right, seeing Sage and Scarlet doing their parts to search as well, though the seemed more subdued, heads angled toward the ground unless they lifted them to call out for their missing teammate.

“Sun.” Blake’s voice sounded weaker than she had anticipated, but she had gotten close enough that Sun still heard her and immediately whipped around, sliding from his perch.

“Blake! You’re okay!” Sun yelped, relief permeating his voice as he tackled his friend into a tight hug.

Against his warm body, Blake realized how exhausted she was. She closed her eyes and leaned into Sun, not necessarily hugging him back (though she hardly ever did), but soaking up his warmth all the same. He and Yang were both always so warm, their embraces like curling up in a thick blanket on a cold day.

“Blake, what’s wrong?” Sun asked, beginning to pull away. “You’re shaking.”

She hadn’t noticed it herself, but Blake was indeed trembling. Before Sun could leave her she snapped her arms around him, slipping them underneath his perpetually open shirt to dig her fingernails into the tight muscles around his shoulders. Sun seemed startled, put wrapped his arms back around her and patted her dark hair.

“She’s gone, Sun,” Blake whispered into his neck. “Yang’s gone. Adam took her. I don’t know where Weiss is. I haven’t seen Ruby since before the tournament-”

“Shh, Blake, it’s okay,” Sun soothed. “I saw Weiss earlier, I know she’s fine. As for the other two, we’ll find them. It’ll be alright.”

Blake pulled away abruptly, hastily wiping her face and turning her back to Sun as he called for his teammates. Scarlet and Sage quickly jogged back to their leader, happy for the three of them to be close to each other again even though they’d only been separated by a few yards each. Scarlet managed a weak smile in Blake’s direction, and she felt bad that she couldn’t muster up one in exchange. Sun laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s find Weiss, okay?” he suggested, and Blake nodded.

It only took the four of them stepping back under the tent for Weiss to find them, letting out a yelp of surprise and weaving her way through the injured to throw herself into Blake’s arms with unexpected force. Blake toppled backwards, Sage having to catch the two of them before they fell to the ground. Weiss released Blake with blush apparent on her pale cheeks, coughing daintily into her hand before speaking.

“You’re alright?” Weiss asked.

Blake brushed her hand across her bandaged torso. “More or less. You?”

“Fine,” Weiss said, though Blake could see exhaustion wearing into her easily. “Where’s Yang?”

Blake stiffened at the question, squeezing her side a little too harshly. “She’s been taken…by an old…friend I had in the White Fang.”

Weiss’s blue eyes widened. “Are you serious? Where?”

“I don’t know.” Blake wanted to snap at her, but she didn’t have the energy. If she knew where Yang was, she would’ve been there instead of standing around here.

“Neptune is gone, too,” Sun spoke from behind Blake, his voice uncharacteristically somber. “I saw someone grab him during the commotion with the Grimm, but they were just a shadow. I don’t know who they were.”

Weiss looked down at her feet. “I haven’t seen Ruby since she went up the tower after Pyrrha, and that light…”

“She was up there during that?” Blake asked, leaning forward.

Weiss nodded. “Professor Goodwitch says someone is looking into it, but I’m tired of waiting around for news. It’s not safe here, either. We need to move.”

“Have you seen JNPR at all?” Blake asked.

Weiss looked back over her shoulder at the gathering of injured students and civilians. “Nora and Ren both got beat up pretty badly. They’re resting somewhere in here. Like I said, Pyrrha was on top of the tower. Jaune was here earlier, but I couldn’t stop him from going out and looking for her.”

Blake sighed, opening her mouth to respond before their little group was distracted by a commotion at the end of the tent facing Beacon Tower. Blake saw Professor Goodwitch’s cape swishing as she hurried to greet supposed newcomers. Weiss let out a strangled squeak below Blake and rushed off, Blake looking up and spotting the object of her attention – a tattered red cape wrapped around a limp Ruby, carried in her uncle’s arms. Blake took off as well.

Professor Goodwitch stopped them within a foot of Ruby and Qrow, spreading her arms out wide in front of the anxious teenagers. “She’s alive. Give her some space.”

Blake thought Weiss was going to faint from pure relief after she heard that, her shoulders slumping forward and face draining of all worry. Blake’s brow still furrowed as she looked of Professor Goodwitch’s shoulder at her comatose leader, still carefully cradled in Qrow’s arms. When she looked up she noticed Qrow staring at her.

“Where’s Yang?” he asked.

Honestly, Blake was getting tired of the question. “She’s gone. Taken by the White Fang.”

She could see Qrow bristle, setting his jaw as his red eyes glared at nothing in particular. He looked about to make a biting retort when little Ruby shifted in his arms, her face falling against his chest. His expression softened immediately and Weiss tried to take another step forward, Professor Goodwitch’s arm shooting out to stop her again. Once she realized the girls weren’t going to leave anytime soon, she set them with a hard glare to stay put and stepped closer to Qrow.

“Miss Nikos?” she whispered harshly, glancing back at Weiss and Blake, who could most definitely hear her every word.

Qrow just shook his head ever so slightly. Weiss immediately recoiled, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. Blake stood for a moment in disbelief, still leaning slightly forward until her balance began to fail her. She blinked and stood up straight, wobbling slightly. Was she supposed to assume that Pyrrha…was dead?

“And Ozpin?” Professor Goodwitch asked next.

Qrow shook his head again. “No sign of him, except for this.” He turned and kicked his knee to the side to jostle a cane – Professor Ozpin’s cane – attached at his hip.

Blake wondered who and what exactly had attacked them this night, as they seemed much stronger than she had initially perceived. As she looked out over the people gathered under the shelter, she couldn’t count how many were there, and there was no telling how many others had been affected. Whoever they were up against had something big planned, with powerful weapons up their sleeves.

“Hey, Blake.”

Blake turned back around to face Ruby and Yang’s uncle. He looked poised to leave, shifting Ruby to a little more of a comfortable position in his arms. Blake fixed him with the same hard glare she was receiving, already knowing the words he would say before they left his mouth.

“Don’t go after Yang,” he warned. “I’ll find her myself.”

Blake nearly scoffed as he watched him leave, not having bothered to wait for her response. She turned around and looked for Sun across the space under the tent, laying a gentle hand on Weiss’s back. Sun’s dark grey eyes found Blake’s easily, returning her expression, and she knew they were on the same track.

They had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyy back at it again with the not sleeping and writing instead
> 
> hopefully it will get more exciting after this and I'll get more sleep so I can write better, but no promises
> 
> hope everyone enjoys, and feel free to comment because feedback is always welcome (also remind me if I forgot to tag something)
> 
> ~✧✧


	3. Chapter 3

“Yang, calm down. There’s no point in getting all worked up.”

Neptune was pleading at her with his eyes, but Yang was paying him little attention. She was hunched over in her chair, breathing heavy and every now and then yanking her arms against the restraints that bound them. Neptune was worried about her, to say the least. Ever since she’d woken up from getting her arm lobbed off like it was nothing she’d been in this crazed state of anger, and it had only heightened with the events that had followed.

“No point?” Yang gritted out, twisting her feet against the concrete beneath them. “How can you say that after what they’ve done to you?”

Neptune’s tongue subconsciously flicked over his busted lip, pain blossoming in his most-definitely broken nose as he scrunched his face up in displeasure. The torture he’d been subjected to in the past few hours? Day? (Neither of them could keep track of the time in this room.) had been far less than pleasant, even though he’d handled it so far. It had just been a bunch of White Fang grunts coming to bash his head in and crush his stomach under their boots every so often. Now that he thought about it, he probably had a few broken ribs as well.

He noticed Yang straining again, trying her hardest to yank her right arm up and out of the metal cuff around her bicep. Neptune wondered what she planned to do if she ever succeeded at getting the swollen and bandaged appendage free, seeing as she, well, didn’t have a hand on that side anymore. The thought made Neptune sick, and he was glad he hadn’t been conscious when the ordeal had occurred.

“Stop it; you’re going to rip the bandage off,” he chided to try to distract himself from his own pain. It had been a tactic for him recently, to focus on Yang more than himself.

Yang finally snapped up to look at him, eyes blood red and nostrils flaring. “Stop being so damn calm,” she snapped. “It’s fucking annoying.”

Neptune frowned apologetically and let her go back to yanking at freedom. Who knows, maybe she’d end up getting them both out. Still, he worriedly watched as the cuff dug into her skin and blood welled up at the edge of the rough metal. He dared not say another word.

They’d only been allowed out of these chairs on two occasions, where they’d been shoved into shoddy looking bathrooms and told to “take care of everything” because they weren’t getting another break like that for another twelve hours. Going off that, Neptune supposed they’d been here for a day and a half, about. If he had to guess. Unless they were trying to play some elaborate mind game with the two of them. That would make things more complicated…

“Shut up,” came Yang’s harsh voice, though Neptune had said nothing. “I can hear you thinking.”

The door opened before Neptune had time to reply, though he hadn’t really been planning on saying anything. Instead fear shot through his aching bones and he strained against his confines involuntarily. However much he managed to still keep his cool outwardly, his body didn’t want to be battered and bruised again. A couple feet to his left, Yang growled, low and animalistic.

The woman who walked through the door was no one Neptune had seen yet, but he recognized her based purely off of an earlier description from Yang. The white hair, weird markings, and creepy eyes were hard to mistake. The man behind her clad in red and black was someone Neptune had seen. He’d been present during many of Neptune’s beatings, and he’d only managed to get Yang to spit out the name “Adam” once before she refused to talk anymore.

The white-haired woman let out an exaggeratedly heavy sigh, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head. “I’m very sorry I’ve been absent this whole time, you two, I would’ve much liked to be here.” She threw her hands up in the air in some sort of shrug. “I’ve just been so busy! Grimm are quite hard to take care of, you know, and that meddling red-head stalled my plans with her new party-trick. Plus now little Ozzie is missing, of all things, and his little minions are running around messing everything up…” She sighed heavily again. “Anyway, I didn’t come here to spout about my problem, I came here to hear about yours! How have you two been?”

Neptune was hopelessly confused, and his head had already been hurting. He dared to steal a glance at Yang, who was just glaring at the Adam guy, and the white-haired woman laughed. She swept over behind the two and suddenly Neptune felt a hand in his hair, wincing as his head was yanked back. He heard Yang snarl.

“Now that’s what I like to hear,” the woman purred. “Really, Adam, great job with blondie over here, but the other is going to need some work.”

“That’s what I’ve been working on.”

“Really?” The woman let go of Yang and stepped in front of Neptune, keeping one hand in his hair and using the other to grab his face and twist it around to her liking. “A bloody lip and a broken nose? Come now, Adam; you can do better. Break out the knives next time.”

Neptune couldn’t help the flash of fear in his widened eyes at the mention of knives, and it seemed to cause the woman incredible joy. She released Neptune with a cackle that made his gut twist uncomfortably as she stalked out of the room, pausing in the doorway.

“I’ve got to go now; that green-haired one – what’s her name, Jade? Olive? Never mind, something that means green – she’s still pestering me about where Cinder is, and I guess I’m going to have to either tell her or kill her.” The woman sighed. “Haven’t killed anyone recently, maybe that’ll be fun. You have fun, too, Adam!”

The man grunted in displeasure and followed her out at the last second before letting the door slam shut. Neptune allowed himself to breathe out a sigh of relief, but it was short-winding, as minutes later Adam was followed back inside by three White Fang grunts carrying all sorts of sharp objects. Neptune had known this was to come eventually, but he thought he’d have more time to mentally prepare himself. He began to squirm in his seat.

“Hey, can I use this today, boss?” one of the grunts asked, holding up a metal tool with pincers that clamped down when she squeezed one end.

The disdain on Adam’s face was evident even with the mask covering half of it. “No. Leave his teeth for now. Just knives.”

The grunt pouted. “I can take out his teeth with a knife.”

“Don’t.”

Neptune’s mind was reeling, going through his options. Should he start begging for his life, or would that make it worse? These people didn’t seem like the type to relent to his begging anyway, actually they seemed like they got off on the whole idea of torture, swapping weapons and chatter between themselves as Neptune watched. Adam backed up to stand sentry by the door like he seemed most accustomed to, and the grunts started to talk about who got to go first.

“All three of you are going to die after you touch him.”

Surprise ran through Neptune’s veins when he heard Yang’s voice. He looked over to see her – for once – not struggling. She almost looked relaxed, head laid back and glaring lazily at the three grunts in front of Neptune. Red still licked at her irises, the only indicator that she was still angry.

The grunt who’d spoken to Adam before laughed, twirling a knife blade on the tip of her finger and drawing blood. “We all die someday, little lady. Best you just worry about yourself from now on.”

The first knife licked against Neptune’s cheek and made him hiss, though he’d tried to stay quiet to keep his little shreds of dignity still intact. The female grunt who seemed to take the position of authority pressed harder and he squeezed his eyes and mouth shut, breathing harshly through his crooked nose as blood dribbled down his jaw and dripped off his chin.

“Oh, c’mon now, make some noise or this is no fun.” Neptune cracked one eye open to see her reach behind her back to her two companions. “Give me a sharper one.”

One of the others passed her a shinier and slender knife, and she tossed the one she’d been using on the floor behind her for her subordinates to scramble for. She stuck her tongue out in concentration and yanked at the top of Neptune’s left ear. Neptune tried to pull away and she clicked her tongue at him, using her elbow to press his head down and render him mostly immobile. The knife tip easily ripped through the cartilage in his ear when a little force was applied, drawing a yelp and a few panicked pants out of his mouth. He’d had his ears pierced once, and he tried to convince himself that this wasn’t any worse; it felt the same except for the sensation of warm blood rolling down the side of his neck. It was fine.

“Ah, well, that was a good first try I guess,” the grunt went on, pulling back and wiping the knife on Neptune’s jacket. “I think you can do better, though.”

She started to rip open Neptune’s jacket with her knife, and he mourned the loss of his favorite piece of clothing before he felt the cool press of sharp metal through his t-shirt, just under his collarbone on his right side. He tensed up right before the grunt leaned into the hilt of the knife and it forced its way through the muscle in Neptune’s shoulder, eliciting many of the screams and curses and gasps that the grunt had wanted to hear. She backed away laughing and clutching at her sides, leaving the knife in its very uncomfortable place.

“Another, another,” she demanded from her comrades, getting handed another knife immediately.

This one went into the same place on Neptune’s other side, and his vision turned white hot with pain. He wasn’t sure if he made any sort of noise that time, but the grunt’s satisfied laughs told him enough. Blood was absolutely soaking down his shirt now, and he wondered if they planned on killing him.

“Where do you think next?” the grunt said excitedly, her hands shaking with adrenaline. “Maybe his legs? Oh, oh, hands? Fingers?”

The sound of wood crackling on his left made him roll his hanging head slightly that way, knowing Yang was over there. He couldn’t see, couldn’t tell if his eyes were closed or not, but he heard the grunts cursing and smelled something burning. He lifted his eyelids and caught a flash of orange and yellow, and then saw the hilt of Adam’s sword being driven into Yang’s temple. She crashed to the ground amongst a half-broken and charred pile of what used to be her chair.

“That’s enough for now, then,” Adam decided, sheathing his sword. “Clean him up before he bleeds out.”

“But-”

“Don’t. Just do what I say.”

Neptune was already at his pain threshold, so when the knives were pulled out of his shoulders, he started to fade away. He could only hope it wasn’t from blood loss and was instead just his low tolerance. Absentmindedly, before he left, he mulled over how strong Yang was, to worry about him even after losing an arm. It reminded him of Sun, how he was always looking out for Neptune and the rest of their team. He hoped they were okay, but for now he was just happy to drown in fond memories, slipping softly away from the pain in his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is like v late I'm just v lazy and like to drag things out
> 
> hope you enjoy this shorrrtttt chapter, I'll try to make the next one longer I promise
> 
> ~✧✧


	4. Chapter 4

Sun kicked at the tiny bits of rubble gathered under his feet as he followed Blake through the eerily empty halls of Beacon Academy. Scarlet and Sage were following some feet behind them, Scarlet too nervous to take more than a few steps at a time and Sage too worried to let them out of his sight. Sun titled his head and watched Blake poke at the bandages around her torso while she surveyed a heavy pile of rubble in front of them, cool night air sweeping in from the hole it left in the wall next to them.

Sun had been lucky to convince Blake to rest a day after her injuries, though he’d basically had to assign himself and his team members to keep a round the clock watch on her. No matter how much he knew she wanted his help to find Yang, he also knew that she was inherently restless and wouldn’t miss an opportunity to bolt ahead if he was being too slow for her taste. Right now, though, she seemed lost, constantly poking her side as she stared at the ceiling.

“Something wrong, Blake?” he asked carefully, coming to stand beside her. “Need to change your bandages?”

Blake glared at him like his concern offended her. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

She nimbly started picking her way over the rubble in her path, Sun stepping back to avoid any larger pieces shifting and falling on his toes. After she disappeared over the other side, Sun jumped up after her, crouching at the top to hold a hand out to his next teammate. He and Blake were natural climbers for obvious reason, but Scarlet and Sage weren’t so much. Scarlet was to unsteady on their feet and Sage was plainly just too big and slow. Sage lifted Scarlet up and nearly tossed them to Sun, the red-head squawking and latching onto Sun as soon as they landed.

“You alright there, bud?” Sun asked with a playful grin.

Scarlet slapped Sun’s hands away and glared down at Sage. “Stop throwing me around like a toy! I’m delicate!”

Sage rolled his eyes, and though Scarlet was mad, they still helped Sun pull Sage up and over the mound. The three of them landed on their feet on the other side – well, more or less, in Scarlet’s case – just in time to see Blake drifting around the corner at the end of the hall, having gotten tired of waiting. Sun jogged after her.

“So what exactly are you looking for?” Sun asked.

“A map,” was Blake’s response.

Sun turned slightly to shoot an exasperated glance at his teammates rounding the corner. Sun would’ve appreciated just a little elaboration, like, was it a certain special map? Why did they need it? Where did Blake think it was? But he knew it was too much to ask of his particularly moody friend.

“Are you sure we’re even safe in here?” Scarlet asked, their accent thick like it always was when they were nervous.

“Probably not,” Sun responded with a shrug, looking up at a particularly large hole in the ceiling. He could see right to Beacon Tower with this angle, frozen Grimm Dragon and all. “Nice view though.”

Scarlet scoffed and told him to “sod off” among other made up insults that Sun had not the patience to decipher. They had been strictly forbidden from getting anywhere near the academy, but with only Goodwitch still around to enforce the rule it hadn’t been hard to slip away from the makeshift camp. Sun was sure their absence had been noticed by now, but again, Goodwitch didn’t have the forces to send out looking for them.

Blake took a sudden turn, veering into a room on her right. If Sun remembered correctly, it was the library. He hadn’t been around quite long enough to memorize the layout of his host school, and it wasn’t like he came to the library often anyway. Not if Neptune didn’t drag him there by the ears.

Inside the library, Blake was already flitting through the rows upon rows of bookshelves. Scarlet found an intact chair at a table near the door and plopped down with a tired sigh. Sage took up his solidary sentry position beside the door and behind Scarlet, though he leaned against the wall and let his eyes close. Sun followed Blake around, staying outside the aisles as he watched her study book spines with utmost concentration. Finally, she pulled one out, a tall and skinny book with loose papers falling out of it. She opened it and Sun saw it was full of various maps ranging in age, size, and location depicted.

“They can’t come with us,” Blake said casually, flipping through the maps with one hand and supporting the book in the other.

“Why not?” Sun asked, leaning against the bookcase.

Blake glanced up at him, like he should know. “They’ll only slow us down. They’re slowing us down right now.”

Sun shifted, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You try to rush through everything. Stop and smell the roses for once.”

Blake paused from her shuffling and looked up at him fully this time, her yellow, cat-eyed gaze making him uncomfortable. “The roses are _dying_ , Sun.”

“Poetic,” Sun muttered, but his teasing fell on deaf ears. He tried for the serious approach. “Look, I know you’re worried about Yang – and trust me, it’s eating me up inside to not know where Neptune is at – but you have to take a step back. Scarlet and Sage are just as worried, or they wouldn’t be here. Scarlet gets spooked by their own shadow, and look at where we are right now.” Sun paused to gesture around the dusty moonlit library, hoping he made his point clear. “You might not have a problem throwing the rest of you teammates in the wind, but as team leader, I cannot do that. I don’t want to.”

Blake clicked her tongue at him in annoyance, pulling out a folded up map and slamming the book shut before she set it back in its place on the bookshelf. “I’m not “throwing them in the wind.” I just know what’s best.”

“That’s a bit arrogant,” Sun remarked, following her back to the front table where she – to Sun’s surprise – kneeled in the chair in front of Scarlet and spread the map out on the table in front of her.

“I don’t suppose any of you have a pen?” she asked.

Scarlet spotted a drawer on their side of the table and went for it, reaching their arm into it and coming back with half of a pencil. “Here you go.”

Though Blake didn’t seem particularly happy (when did she ever, though), she accepted Scarlet’s offering and started circling locations on the map in front of her. Sun slid into the seat beside her and Sage pushed himself off the wall to come stand at the end of the table. When Blake was done she had circled about twenty locations on the map, a full map of Remnant.

“These are all the White Fang locations that I used to know of,” she said, leaning back and sliding down to sit cross-legged in her chair. “I have no idea if they’re still used or not, but right now it’s the only lead I’ve got.”

Sun tilted the map towards himself, earning a grunt from Sage. He mumbled an apology and studied the areas Blake had marked. They were spread out across all of the kingdoms, none too close together to easily search all of them. He wondered just how far Yang and Neptune could’ve been taken, or if they were even in the same place.

“Have you been to all of these places?” Sun asked.

Blake shook her head. “Adam and I stayed mostly in Vale, but…being as close to him as I was, it wasn’t rare for me to overhear or see plans, or even be told them. That’s how I know the locations in the other kingdoms.”

Sun pushed the map back to Sage to let him look over it. “So how do you suggest we go about this?”

Blake shrugged, eyelids lowering into what Sun recognized as a challenge. “There are four of us, four kingdoms…”

“That’s not happening,” Sun said immediately. “We can split into groups of two, but no one’s going alone.”

Blake looked smug. “Fine. Then here’s what I propose: you and I stay here in Vale, since I know it best. Sage and Scarlet are from Mistral, so it only makes sense to send them there to look.”

Sun didn’t say anything to approve or deny her plan, wanting to hear the opinions of his teammates first. He had to admit that when faced with the number of possibilities, splitting up seemed to be the most efficient way to solve things, but that still didn’t mean he wanted to resort to those measures. Scarlet was silent, for once, and Sage raised up with a grunt.

“I think that’s the best plan that’s going to come out of this situation,” he said. “If we keep in contact by scroll every once in a while it should work out okay.”  
Sun nodded his approval. “Okay. We just have to find a way to get you two to Mistral safely.”

“Atlas’s military is coming to evacuate most everyone from the city tomorrow,” Scarlet piped up. “I heard Professor Goodwitch talking about it this morning. We should be able to hitch a ride back.”

“You and I will have to leave before that happens,” Blake told Sun, “or they’ll try to transport us elsewhere too.”

Sun nodded, chewing on his thumb. “That’s true. I say we go back tonight and try to sneak some supplies – just what we need to start off – and then find somewhere else to camp.”

Suddenly, Scarlet groaned. “I just remembered! Professor Goodwitch is going to be so angry at us when we come back!”

“You can’t tell her where Sun and I are,” Blake said immediately.

Scarlet looked offended. “You think I’m daft?”

“Not all the time, just easy to intimidate,” Blake said, and Sage chuckled.

Scarlet started spouting off made up profanities and Sun gathered and folded up the map, offering it to Sage. “You guys should take this, since Blake knows the areas herself.”

Sage nodded and took the map, slipping it into one of the pockets in his jacket. The group took it as their cue to leave, venturing carefully back to the campground where most were sleeping on gathered blankets and pillows – if they were lucky. Sun urged Sage and Scarlet out to distract Goodwitch where she stood eternally guarding her patrons so that he and Blake could sneak around the side amidst her hushed scolding and steal all the supplies they needed. They didn’t take much, just the blankets they’d slept on last night and some extra bandages for Blake’s wound. They’d gather things like food on the way. Escape was easier than they had expected.

“Sorry for making you ditch them,” Blake said after they’d gotten quite far away from the campground, startling Sun as they walked through the empty streets of the city.

Sun wanted to tease her for suddenly being soft, but decided against it. “I understand. In the end your plan worked best, so I’m not sure I would’ve done it differently.”

Blake didn’t reply, just shifted her rolled up blanket under her other arm so she could awkwardly lay a hand on Sun’s shoulder. She’d never been the best at showing affection or any kind of gratitude, but Sun didn’t mind it. He curled his tail around her wrist for a moment before her hand slipped away, and smiled down at her, hoping to make her feel a bit better. After all, they had a long journey ahead of them, and it didn’t exactly promise great results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprisingly, I wrote this chapter pretty quickly, so hopefully that doesn't mean it's terrible
> 
> as always, hope you enjoy, and love seeing your comments and kudos! <3
> 
> ~✧✧


	5. Chapter 5

Yang had accumulated few regrets throughout her life; she wasn’t one to dwell much on the past and what she should’ve done instead of what she did do. However, sitting in a dark room for days with nothing to satiate her senses had forced her into thinking about some of her life choices. Still, even in the situation she was in, she didn’t regret much. She didn’t regret how she got there, by trying to rescue Blake. She didn’t regret the threats she made towards her captors, even though they always ended in punishment. She didn’t regret letting her rage take over yesterday when Neptune was being tortured for the first time.

What she did regret was her selfishness. After she’d woken without an arm, she’d been consumed by the thought that it had been taken from her, and all she’d focused on was how she was going to get out. She’d been sharp with Neptune, insulting him, stabbing him with her words because he was her only outlet at the time. And looking at him now, she thought it may have been her biggest regret. Ever.

She turned her head to look at him now, hunched over in his chair and shivering like he was stuck in a block of ice. He was splattered with his own blood – no it was more like he’d taken a bath in it – and his clothes were in tatters, his shirt barely still hanging onto his pale frame. His hair and the downward angle of his head hid his face from Yang, but she knew he was crying. He’d finally crumbled, after so long enduring it.

The three torturers had set a rigid schedule. They’d come in, open up every non-fatal wound they could, and then leave after taping some thick gauze on the lesions bleeding most profusely. They’d let Neptune sleep – or pass out, whichever – just enough for his aura to feebly start trying to heal him before they were back, stopping the process and poking his wounds back open, creating new ones on untouched patches of skin. Yang had learned the ringleader’s name. It was Lilac, unfitting and oddly delicate for someone so brash and cruel, but Yang burned it into the back of her eyelids along with the young woman’s face, vowing to get revenge.

After her outburst yesterday, Yang had been given a new place to sit. It seemed she wasn’t to be trusted with a chair anymore, so they had dragged her a few more feet away from Neptune, and she’d woken up with her left arm and legs in chains attached to stakes in the ground. They didn’t bother with her right arm at all. Yang didn’t mind, the loose chains gave her more mobility, and she was able to stretch out and lay on the ground and change position when she got too sore. She just wished she could trade with Neptune.

“Hey, Nep,” she called over to him, voice gentle. “What do you think Sun’s doing right now?”

It was an obvious distraction tactic, but it seemed to work. Neptune shifted ever so slightly, one of his sniffles echoing through the room as he tried to wipe his face on his shoulder. He only succeeding in aggravating the gashes there and smearing more blood onto his face, going still again.

“I know you must be worried about him,” Yang went on. The links of her chains clinked together as she shifted onto her back and turned her gaze above her. “Scarlet and Sage too, I’m sure. You guys are all pretty close, aren’t you?”

Neptune sniffed again, not moving much this time except for the involuntary strain against his bindings. “Yeah,” came his weak whisper, and Yang knew she had gotten through to him.

“I bet they’re okay,” Yang said, and she was telling the truth. “You guys are strong together. My team…well, we were separated from the beginning, anyway. I hope they all got to safety. Especially Blake; I have no idea what happened to her after I got Adam’s attention away from her.” Yang hadn’t really meant to start talking about her own worries, but it seemed to be distracting Neptune nonetheless. “She was stabbed, you know, by him. I don’t know if she got away or not. Of course I’m worried about Ruby and Weiss, too, but…” Yang shook her head. “Do you think Blake and Sun might be together? They’re good friends, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Still weak, but a little clearer.

“Maybe they’re looking for us,” Yang wondered, her tone a little too hopeful.

Neptune lifted his head, finally, and let it hang back over his shoulders like he couldn’t hold the weight on his own. Yang looked over at him, tears carving their way through the bloodied mess on his face. He looked so troubled and conflicted that Yang instinctively tried to roll toward him, rubbing uncomfortably against her bandaged right arm in the process.

“I hope they aren’t,” Neptune choked out. He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. “I don’t want this for them.”

Yang was quiet for a long time before she replied, voice softer than normal. “Yeah. Me either.”

They didn’t speak anymore after that, and Neptune let his head hang down once more. When Yang looked over the next time, she thought he must’ve been asleep. She figured it was best to let him escape his pain for a little while, even if it only meant he’d be brutally awakened by more soon enough. Yang hadn’t been sleeping much herself; she realized she’d only been unconscious when she was forced into the state.

Yang let her mind wander and her stomach rumble. They hadn’t been fed at all during their period of confinement, and she wondered if they ever would be. It hadn’t been so pressing of a problem yesterday, but now the hunger was gnawing at her from the inside. She had quite a big appetite, so to go this long without food or _water_ was making her feel actually sick. She thought she remembered hearing that humans could only go three days without drinking water before they died, and by her calculations, the second day was nearing its end.

Yang wondered if she had fallen asleep there on the ground, because the next time she remembered actually having cohesive thoughts was when the metal door clanged into the wall next to it and the white-haired woman swept in as per her usual entrance. Yang pushed herself up into a sitting position, and Neptune was roused from his slumber, blearily raising his head just enough to see what was going on.

_Something’s off_ , Yang thought as she studied the woman’s face. Usually she was putting on a show, cackling and grinning as she talked to Yang and Neptune like they were her friends or something. This time, she was quiet and observing, her dark eyes studying her pair of captives. Adam had slipped inside as well, shutting the door and taking his usual post beside it.

Finally, the woman cracked a grin, sweeping over to Neptune even though her eyes had been on Yang. She yanked his head up by his hair and he winced in pain, squeezing his eyes shut and flinching as far away from her as he could. A low chuckled emanated from the woman’s throat.

“Ah, this one’s been crying, has he?” she observed, wiping her sleeve under Neptune’s eyes and only succeeding in smearing around dried blood and dirt in a process that looked painful to Neptune. “I take that as meaning your little underlings have been doing good work.”

The question was clearly directed at Adam, but he didn’t respond. The woman didn’t seem to have expected him to, and she shoved Neptune’s head back down. Neptune shuddered and clenched his fists, looking to be the embodiment of brokenness at that point. Yang looked back up at the white-haired woman, now in front of the two of them again.

“Well, better start the process now,” she said, flinging up her sleeves to reveal the bright white skin of her arms. “Which one first…”

She seemed to play a choosing game in her head, one slender finger bouncing back and forth between Yang and Neptune slowly. Her silence was unnerving, and Yang wished she’d just get whatever she was planning over with. The woman’s finger landed for a final time in Neptune’s direction, and she smiled wickedly, pushing up her sleeves again as she walked toward him.

“Looks like you’re the lucky winner, blue boy,” the woman said gleefully, and Neptune raised his head with more urgency this time. The woman was in position behind him, hands up in the air.

“What are you going to do to him?” Yang asked calmly.

The woman glanced over. “Oh, don’t get jealous, blondie. You’ll get your turn soon enough.”

Neptune’s sudden panic was as clear as day, and it was the first emotion besides pain that Yang had seen him wear since the torture started. “What-”

He was cut off by just the woman’s hands finally coming down to cover his eyes, her fingers linking together over the bridge of his nose. He fell completely silent, mouth still hanging open in mid-sentence. The woman’s eyes were closed, her chin brushing the hair on top of Neptune’s head as she leant over him.

Neptune suddenly jerked but just as soon stilled again, a little sound like a whimper or yelp falling out of his mouth but cut short just as his movement was. Yang pulled against her chains and opened her mouth to speak before a red blade pressed under her chin. Adam had moved beside her without even drawing her attention, and he held her at bay while keeping his gaze focused on the two across the room.

Every few moments Neptune would seize up in his chair again, clenching his fists, pulling at his restraints, trying to twist away from the hands over his eyes. The woman held fast to him, her face calm but concentrated. Yang didn’t know how long it took before Neptune went completely limp under the woman, all the breath leaving his chest in a single, lengthy exhale. The woman slipped her hands away, her eyes still closed as she took in a deep, quiet breath. The skin around Neptune’s eyes was pitch black like someone had smudged ash across it, and as Yang watched she could see the space growing slowly smaller like the black was retreating into his eyes.

“Is he _dead_?” Yang asked, her voice sounding more like disbelief or awe instead of anger.

The woman smiled. “Oh, no, not at all. Your turn.”

Yang tried to twist around so the woman couldn’t get behind her like she had with Neptune, but Adam just pressed his sword tip into her chest, effectively making her sit still. The woman kneeled behind her and Yang still tried to move her head away from those ghostly hands with a growl. The woman clicked her tongue in disapproval, and Adam’s sword moved back up under Yang’s chin.

Once the woman’s hands had settled over Yang’s eyes, she felt very distant, shrouded in black. But she also felt like there was an intrusion somewhere, like she wasn’t alone. Faces of her classmates flickered in front of her vision, and she strained to reach for them, but they were gone before she could. Then it was her team, and she pushed harder until they faded away too. Then she saw Blake, lying on the ground with Adam’s sword through her abdomen. She heard a hiss behind her head and more pressure in her temples before Blake disappeared and was replaced with images of her childhood home with Ruby, her mother, and their father. They were all fading away, like she was forgetting…

“My name is Salem.” Yang heard her before she even realized the pressure in her head was gone. “From now on, you will know me as your master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a tendency to write short chapters in _everything_ I write, so I'm sorry if you want longer chapters ;-; I'll try to keep updating frequently to ease the pain
> 
> aside from that, I'm really excited to keep writing this, there's a lot I have planned for the future!
> 
> hope everyone enjoys and keeps reading!
> 
> ~✧✧


	6. Chapter 6

“We should stop for more supplies soon.”

Blake looked up from the hand-drawn map she had scribbled on a scrap of paper, finding Sun staring up at the sky through the tree branches they were walking under. He was right – it’d been about a week since they’d started their journey and they were in need of more food and water before they ventured too far out in the wilderness. Blake checked her map again. If they were where she thought, there would be a small settlement ahead on their current path where they could stop and stock up.

“You know I can’t read your mind, right?” Sun said as he watched Blake slip her map back away. “You have to tell me your plans.”

“There’s a village ahead,” Blake offered. “We should be there before nightfall.”

Sun gave her and exaggerated thumbs-up and mouthed “fantastic,” before falling still and silent again. They were both low on energy and morale after a week of turning up stones and finding exactly nothing to show for their efforts. Signal towers were scrambled or out everywhere, so it hadn’t been easy to keep in touch with Scarlet and Sage, but so far they didn’t seem to be having any luck either. Blake and Sun had made it to two locations and were on their way to the third, having found each of the first barren and long-abandoned.

The village came up sooner than Blake had calculated, which she wasn’t all too surprised about. It’d been a while since she’s last been around this part of Vale, and some things had changed. The village had expanded a bit, and it was nice to see other people for once. Vale had been starting to seem like a ghost kingdom. Of course, when they entered the village, things became clearer.

There had obviously been some sort of turmoil recently – Blake would have guessed in the last day. She saw the charred remains of a building people were steering clear of near the middle of town, and some rebuilding efforts taking place around the village center, where a fountain stood with water leaking through its crumbling stone. Blake and Sun shared a look before approaching a woman kneeling near the broken landmark.

“Excuse me,” Sun said, getting the woman to look up at the both of them. “Would you mind telling us what happened here?”

The woman stood fully, pushing mousy brown hair out of her face. She must have noticed their weapons, for she asked, “Oh, are you two huntsmen?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sun said politely, and Blake wanted to scoff.

“Oh! Then please let me take you to our innkeeper,” the woman insisted. “He knows the story best.”

The woman led them a short distance to a crowded bar/inn, filled with people off all kinds sharing in slow wind of the evening. Even though there were many people gathered inside, the air was thick with tension, and no one seemed very happy at all. Blake and Sun, outsiders as they were, received many curious looks as their guide led them to a counter in the back corner of the room, behind which sat a burly and bearded man.

“Owen, these two are huntsmen,” the woman introduced them. “They’d like to hear about what happened yesterday.”

The innkeeper, Owen, hummed and sat up in his chair. “Well if they can do something about it, I’d be glad to tell them.”

“Was it a Grimm attack?” Sun asked, leaning forward onto the counter.

“Nope,” Owen replied, shaking his head. “It was two kids, looked like huntsmen themselves, if you ask me. Must’ve been part of the White Fang” – Blake bristled at the mention of the organization – “but they didn’t look like Faunus. We don’t know what they were.”

“Well what happened?” Blake pressed.

Owen sighed heavily, stroking his beard. “Hard to say myself. But they swept in here like a hurricane, for no apparent reason. I’m sure you saw it on the way in – the charred house?” Both Blake and Sun nodded. “That was my son’s house. He and his wife made it out alive, thank goodness. She’s pregnant, you know, so maybe the kids took mercy. Burnt their entire house down, though, and wreaked havoc on the rest of the town, drawing in Grimm too. It was the fiery one that was real trouble; red-eyed, and a flaming head of hair to match. Never seen anything like it – what, you know her?”

Owen’s attention had been caught by Blake slamming her fists on the counter in frustration. There was no way the girl he was describing hadn’t been Yang, and she could only assume that the one with her had been Neptune. She grabbed Sun’s arm and tried to pull him toward the door.

“We need to go. Now,” she insisted.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute,” Sun replied, tugging her back to the counter beside him. “We can’t just go rushing off. Owen, can you tell us anymore? What did the other kid look like?”

Owen scratched his beard. “Well, he was wearing goggles, but had this really bright blue hair. I swear, do you two know these kids?”

It had been Sun’s turn to clench up, but he tried to shake it off as best as he could to reply. “Yeah, actually, we’ve been looking for them. But…that really doesn’t sound like something they’d do. They just went missing when the attack started…”

Owen seemed deep in thought. “Well, I’ll tell you what. You can stay here tonight, free of charge, and in the morning I’ll let you talk to my son and his wife, see what they can tell you. As long as you promise you’ll catch the ones who did this and bring them to justice – no matter if they’re your friends or not.”

Though she knew it would be foolish to turn down this man’s offer of free room and information, Blake just wanted to leave as soon as possible. If it had really been Yang and Neptune, she and Sun needed to start trailing them as fast as possible. She looked to Sun for advice, but he had already made his mind.

“It’s a deal,” Sun said, reaching across the counter to shake Owen’s hand. “Thank you for your hospitality. We won’t let it go to waste.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH OMG I'M SO SORRY
> 
> I really don't have any excuse for being so late man I feel so bad
> 
> I've been quite distracted recently by smaller projects for another fandom but I wanted to update this before I posted anything else!
> 
> I'm really gonna try to keep updating this like a decent person so sorry for this shitty short chapter it's 5:48am and I haven't slept and I just wanted to update this ASAP its been crushing me for weeks
> 
> let's hope I get my shit together so I can give you people the chapters you deserve in the future
> 
> OH ALSO P.S. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...hahaha
> 
> so let me preface this by saying I'M SO VERY SORRY
> 
> there'll be more notes at the end as i'm sure anyone still reading wants to get on with it, but i deeply apologize for leaving this story for so long - I HAVEN'T ABANDONED IT I PROMISE

Neptune had long ago lost track of time, his location, himself, and just about everything in between. His mind was hazy; he seemed to still remember things but didn’t know what to do with the information, or it was just too jumbled for him to make sense of. His whole body felt constantly heavy, like something was laying over him and hanging off of him all the time. He didn’t move unless he had to, which was coincidentally whenever he was told to.

Currently, Neptune was sprawled out on his back, his arms and legs resting in the grass outside the edges of his sleeping mat. He vaguely remembered setting up this encampment in the woods, but he couldn’t recall if it had been mere minutes of hours before he came to his current position. The stars above his head were nice to look at, at least.

Almost painstakingly slow, Neptune turned his head to look to his left. The back of a head of yellow hair greeted him. Yang appeared to be asleep, but she was unnaturally still. Neptune had the strange thought that perhaps she was dead, but that struck up no remorse, no sadness. No happiness, though, either. Just nothing.

His head turned back up to the stars. They pierced brightly though the navy of the night sky, and Neptune’s eyes started tracing their own imaginary constellations, like a connect-the-dots game. The action seemed vaguely familiar – sentimental, he guessed – and something finally returned to him.

A memory, bright and searing behind his eyelids. In it, he was sandwiched between two warm bodies. Sun on his left, Scarlet on his right, and Sage on the other side of Scarlet. The four of them were laying outside in the grass, very similar to Neptune’s present state. Sun raised his arm to point at the starry sky and opened his mouth to say something, grinning widely as he looked across his companions. Neptune couldn’t hear his words, but laughed, especially when Scarlet nearly clawed across him to get to Sun. Whatever Sun had said must’ve offended the redhead, and it was up to Sage to pull them back into their position. Neptune laughed, soundlessly, with an equally mute but obviously hysteric Sun. Nevertheless, Neptune’s hand did find Scarlet’s in an effort at an apology, or perhaps a reassurance.

Coming back to reality was disorienting and headache-inducing, the stars seeming to spin and warp rapidly before Neptune’s sight stabilized, and he was back in the makeshift campsite next to a sleeping or maybe dead Yang, somewhere in the middle of some forest or something, for some reason.

He wished he could go back to the memory.

Voices eventually floated into his right ear, but he didn’t have the motivation to turn to see who was talking, if they were even in sight range. The volume of the chatter was quiet, so Neptune assumed whoever was talking was far from him. Still, he listened absentmindedly to what the two parties were talking about.

“…really. I’ve told you once already: stop just going after people in relationships with Faunus.” This voice was a woman’s, one he recognized. The word “master” floated around his head. “Blondie was a good pick, the blue-haired one is okay I guess, but seriously, what use would I have with some nobody who’s having a kid with a Faunus? Not even a huntsman! Put aside your whole ‘Faunus purity’ White Fang thing or whatever and start picking up people I can actually _use_.”

“You can use them,” the second voice grumbled, still calm. Neptune recognized him too.

“Yes, _them_ , I can use, I _said_ that,” the woman hissed. “But I need _more than them_ , and more than Faunus SO’s. Get it?”

“…Yes.”

“Fantastic.” Neptune heard a clap. “Oh, you know who would be really fantastic? That red-head that lit up the top of beacon tower! Or Goodwitch – though she’d be a tough one to crack. Mostly any of the huntsman kids – kids are easier, you know, malleable minds and all – just trying to give you some options.”

“I get it.”

“Then get to it.”

The conversation seemed to end, and Neptune was back to the relative silence of the forest. The whole conversation confused him, all the talk about Faunus and who they were involved with and cracking minds – it was too complicated and nonsensical, to him at least. He did recall a more recent memory that could’ve related to it, though.

He and Yang had rolled over a village not long ago – or maybe it was days ago, Neptune couldn’t tell – and they’d been instructed to focus on a certain household, home to a pregnant Faunus woman and her husband. Yang had been the one in control of the situation, and they had been ordered to take the man into custody, but both of them had frozen up at the sight of a pregnant woman. They’d left without damaging the house’s inhabitants.

Neptune thought there was something like pain after that, but he couldn’t remember anything between his time there and his time in the campsite. He felt strange, and wondered why he hadn’t done as he was told before. He didn’t know that woman; what was so bad about hurting her?

He flipped over, finally moving more than just his head, and almost got a face full of hair from Yang. Even after backing up a bit, Neptune decided he didn’t want to face her and flipped onto his other side. There were trees there, and darkness, and eventually, sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so, also sorry for the short chapter (and this long-ass end note), but i was honestly in a hurry to get a new chapter posted after stewing on coming back to this for like weeks
> 
> if anyone is still here from the beginning - wow you are the greatest and i really appreciate you staying along even through my super inconsistent updating and hiatusing and shit
> 
> and to anyone new - greetings! salutations! thank you so very much for joining the ride and i appreciate you all just as much as anyone that's been reading from the beginning.
> 
> i do have plans for this fic, but forgive me if my writing is a little off compared to previous chapters; it's hard to get back into something after so long.
> 
> i don't know when i'll next post but i'll try to get into a regular update schedule (aka it definitely wont be like five months until the next chapter, honestly i have no self control so another chapter might come within the week idk)
> 
> again, very sorry it took so long, real life is a real bitch yo


	8. Chapter 8

Sun had sat up by the fifth time Blake rammed her fist into his door, after he’d rolled around on his bed trying to escape to the quiet space under his pillow. He rubbed his eyes, nearly dropping back onto the mattress but forcing himself to stay upright instead. After going so long without a proper night’s sleep in a proper bed, it was difficult to rationalize the thought of actually leaving said bed.

Blake’s fist came down on the door again. “I swear, Sun, if you don’t come out of this room immediately, I’m leaving you and going off on my own.”

Sun yawned, not too alarmed at Blake’s ultimatum. If she’d been standing outside trying to wake him up for more than five minutes (which she had), she would spare a few more for Sun to collect himself. He didn’t doubt that she would break down the measly door separating them, though, so he hefted himself to his feet and trudged toward the door, yanking a fresh shirt from his bag on the floor to change into.

The innkeeper had been very generous to provide the two of them separate rooms to sleep in, even though they’d assured him it was fine for them to share one. He’d brushed them off by saying that business was slow and he had the rooms to spare anyway, saying it was the least he could do if they were going to help him and the town. Sun hoped that he and Blake actually proved to be of assistance rather than turning up nothing as they had the entire week.

When Sun opened the door, his life came within centimeters of ending. Blake’s fist hovered in the air before his nose, mid-slam, and Sun slipped to the side slowly even though Blake had paused in her movement. She still looked like she would enjoy hitting him, face set in an obvious growl and hairbow twitching conspicuously.

“Do you think they serve breakfast here?” Sun asked, slipping around Blake and into the hall in an effort to diffuse some of her anger.

“How would I know?”

Blake was still spitting venom, so Sun avoided talking to her anymore and headed for the stairs instead, past a row of doors leading to rooms like his own. He could feel Blake following on his heels, but made no move to speed up, taking his time descending the staircase until he’d breached the diner downstairs. Owen was behind the same counter he’d been at last night, unoccupied due to the few patrons quietly scattered around the room.

“Good morning,” Owen greeted as Sun approached the counter, Blake begrudgingly following. “Would you two like some breakfast?”

“No, we really have to-” Blake started, but Sun cut her off by saying, “That’d be great, thanks.”

Sun grabbed Blake’s elbow and pulled her into a seat at the bar before she could run off in her anger. Owen disappeared into a door that Sun could only assume led to the kitchen. He could almost feel heat coming off from Blake as she boiled beside him, her head in her hands as she leaned forward onto the counter.

However mad she was, Blake still ate like a starving man when Owen brought them both a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Though, Sun was also happy to have something to eat other than sandwiches and campfire meals. Owen tended to his business while Sun and Blake ate in mutual silence, and the innkeeper returned when they finished to pick up their plates and take them back into the kitchen. Blake seemed calmer once her stomach was full.

Owen walked back over to them. “My son and his wife are staying here for the time being. If you two can find a table to sit at, I’ll ask if they can come down and talk to you.”

Sun nodded and got up to lead Blake to a table in a quiet corner of the diner. “I’ll talk. Just try not to look so grumpy and menacing.”

Blake glared at him, sliding into the seat beside him. “We don’t have time for this.”

“We have to have time for this,” Sun insisted. “Or else we don’t have any leads.”

“I could track them,” Blake shot back. “They left quite a trail through here.”

Sun sighed, resigning himself to sit quietly and wait instead of arguing with what might as well have been a wall. He was worried, insanely worried, about what might’ve happened to Neptune and Yang to make them terrorize a town like this. Blake stressing over their lost time was just making him more anxious, but he had to convince himself that they were doing the right thing by being thorough.

Sun felt lucky that it only took about ten minutes for Owen to come back downstairs with another man, since Blake got more impatient by the second. She was tapping both feet when Owen and the man – presumably Owen’s son – walked toward Blake and Sun’s table. Owen patted his son on the shoulder and parted from him before reaching the table.

The man introduced himself before sitting down. “Hello, I’m Braith, Owen’s son,” he greeted. “I understand you two are involved with what happened a couple days ago?”

“Yes,” Sun confirmed, straightening in his seat as Braith sat down on the other side of the table. “My name is Sun, and this is my friend Blake. Can you tell us any details about what happened?”

Braith shrugged. “I mean, it was just a normal night; my wife and I had just eaten dinner when we started hearing a commotion outside. It wasn’t that late, just around dusk, so people were still out in the streets, and we could hear them yelling. We both went to the door to look out and see what was going on, and before we knew it, the two attackers were in our house.”

“Right, the blonde girl and blue-haired guy?” Sun asked, and Braith nodded. “Did they say anything to you?”

“No. They didn’t say a word,” Braith said, scratching the back of his neck. “It was strange, I thought; I expected them to make demands or something. But they were completely silent. Methodical, but also like a controlled sort of chaos.”

“What did they do?” Sun pressed.

“Well, my wife and I ran from them, of course, or tried to,” Braith said. “They thankfully didn’t seem very interested in her, but I got a pretty nasty burn.”

Braith raised his arm and pulled back the sleeve of his shirt, revealing bandages on his arm. Sun frowned, uneasy. “But they let you go?”

Braith nodded. “It was weird, but we were already standing amidst flames consuming most of our house, but the blonde one suddenly held her arm out to stop the other. She was staring at my wife’s stomach. I’m sure my dad has told you she’d pregnant – he likes to flaunt it,” Braith finished with a breathy laugh.

“Do you know where they headed afterward?” Blake suddenly interjected.

Braith turned his gaze to her. “After they ran out, we did as well. They went North; that’s all I know.”

While they’d been talking, a woman had approached unnoticed. “Braith? Have you had breakfast?”

Braith started, turning to face the woman. “Oh, Delaney, you’re supposed to be resting.” The woman looked disgruntled, crossing her arms over her pregnant belly. “These two were asking me about what happened the other day.”

“I think we have all we need, so we won’t bother you anymore,” Sun said hurriedly. “Thank you for talking with us.”

Braith nodded, before letting his wife pull him away, and Sun turned to look at Blake. “We can go now.”

Blake didn’t pay him any mind, studying, Delaney as she walked away with Braith. “She’s a faunus.”

Sun had noticed of course, the woman had delicate little antlers protruding from either side of her head. “Yeah. So?”

Blake sighed, shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

The two of them headed upstairs to gather their few belongings and leave. Sun thanked Owen for his hospitality and thanked Braith and Delaney for their cooperation before Blake was literally dragging him toward the door. They passed by the town center and the burnt remains of Braith and Delaney’s house on their way out.

“North, huh?” Sun mused as they neared the edge of town. “Where do you think they’re going?”

Blake shrugged, studying her map already. “We’ll find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "iT wONt bE fiVe MoNThs UnTiL thE nExt CHapTeR" [insert spongebob meme]
> 
> legit i'm only 2 days away from it being 5 months since the last chapter i'm SO SORRY
> 
> if any of you are still with me i thank you and sincerely apologize for being terrible and a liar, and for any newcomers, hello! welcome to this rarely updated fic (i'll try to change that this time) enjoy your stay
> 
> if you enjoyed and feel up to it, please leave a comment! reading them really fuels me to write more, that's honestly how i finished this chapter
> 
> thanks for continuing to put up with these erratic updates <3


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